The Guardian Article
Campaigners say growing use of prepaid cards for people to spend
on support at home is removing their independence
For the past 10 years, Edwina
McCarthy, 63, has lived contentedly in her own home in south London
with the support of personal assistants she employs through
a personal budget for needs arising from cerebral palsy. In
many ways, she is an advertisement for the merits of the
personalisation of care and health.
But McCarthy feels her lifestyle is under threat. "They
tell you, 'there's the money. You can be independent'," she says.
"But you can't. They monitor every action you take."
What bothers McCarthy is that, in common with more than
30,000 other people with personal budgets, her funding is no longer
sent to her bank account as a direct payment, but is loaded on to
a prepaid card. Not only does this enable her local council to
check exactly how she is spending it, but it gives it the
power to veto expenditure it disapproves of.
You can read the full article
here and see the full report
here
Last Updated : 14 June 2018. Page Author: Wendy Kellett.